Acceptable Camshaft Wear? Expert Advice Needed!

Try using terry cloth first and since the cams are made of steel billet, you might have to work on it a bit.

 

Feel it with your fingernail or a pick. Is it material added on or missing?

 

Terry cloth (as suggested above) or 600/1200 wet/dry should take the shoulders off the gouges, which would be good. If there's cam lobe material that is proud of the surface then you definitely want to get that flat.

The lobes are offset to the valve cups, so, the idea is that the cup rotates around and the lobe doesn't wear a hole in it. I'd take a look at the cup that was running under that lobe - if it has gouges in it from the wear on the lobe then you might want to replace the cup too. If there's no obvious wear to the cup then just cleaning up the lobe a bit should be fine.

Good luck!

 

nevermind. duh.

 

Don't fret, its no big thing.

A replacement will fit fine. The heads were reamed with a very precise line reamer and any replacement factory part will work fine. Cams are one area of expertise Ferrari did exceptionally well, they are quite consistent one to the next. There are but a small single hand full of cam guys Worldwide that are able to duplicate the craftsmanship Ferrari did in this area.

I have my collection of early carb engines sitting in the back room waiting for assy. for Kris' 77GTB, I should have a number of spare sets of pre cat cams. We can exchange that one for a good used one and I will have it repaired for her car, it wont be going together for a few months. Upside... it will force you to time the cams properly, at least this one time.

Cams are case hardened and once that hard layer is breached the surrounding material flakes off fairly easily, a risk you do not want to take unless you can accurately measure the depth of the hardening. From the pictures it appears acid etched from it sitting in one spot holding a valve open, submersed in old acid laden oil.... A pretty good poster child argument for fall oil changes before storage in the snow belt areas.

 

Ooh, I'd originally espoused this routine, for this very reason for quite a while!
Why was it that I was finally convinced to change my mind (to spring)?

 

There ya go, Rob!
Way to go, Dave!
Cheers,
Coop

 

Post a Macro photo of the lobe ramps when you get the "new" one. I will believe it when I see it.

 

This procedure effectively uses an old belt & bench vise as a strap wrench to secure the cam gear. It's also a good idea to mark the cam gear & cam holes so that the locating pin's position can be readily identified.


You will need:
1- Old cam belt
1- 1/2" drive Air impact wrench with at least 450 ft-lbs of torque in reverse. an IR-231C or better.
1- 19mm 1/2" drive impact socket
A source of compressed air
A bench vise firmly mounted on a workbench. It is preferable for the vise to have 'soft jaws' of Cu, brass, or Al.

CAVEAT: This procedure requires a 2nd person or some other way of supporting the cam shaft while it's being done:

To remove the cam I:
1) Wrap an old cam belt around the cam gear
2) Open bench vise jaws just enough to pull the belt down thru the jaws. Position the cam gear with the belt around it such that the gear's flange overhangs the jaws.

Support the cam during the following steps so that it remains horizontal:
3)Pull the belt downwards until the cam gear is resting on top of the jaws, then tighten the jaws.
4)Use the air impact wrench in reverse to remove the cam gear bolt.
5) Open the vise & remove the belt.
6) Remove the locating pin from the cam gear.(optional - see next step)
6) Remove the cam gear from the cam. (Sometimes it is easier to remove the cam gear with the locating pin still in it, then remove the pin from the cam gear. Be careful to not loose the positioning pin.

BTW, I try to anticipate the need to remove the cam gear while the old belt is still installed & the tensioners are locked down. I loosen the front bank cam gear bolts by putting the engine on PM 5-8, and use an impact wrench to loosen the rear bank cam gear bolts, but do not remove the bolts or gears. I then rotate the engine to PM 1-4 & loosen the front bank cam gear bolts.

An alternative bolt removal method I've seen used is to put D shaped holes on the side of 2 blocks of wood such that the holes firmly clamp a round section of the cam's body when inserted into a vise.

 

Are you implying that someone is likely going to try to pass a milder cam as an earlier cam? Are early cams hen's teeth at this point?

 

Gasoline?

So what is that? Some real NOS cam hidden in some Italian barn for 35 years?

 

Hey Rob,

I borrowed a friends impact gun to remove my cam sprockets for my euro cam installation. You can come over and we can "zap" them off. I've been able to take them off with the gun just by holding onto the cam.

Henry

 

Consider it a labor of love, few get the oppertunity to do that these days.

You are a parts bird dog!!!! I have this 77B that I need........

 

Your very welcome, I am glad you were able to find a NOS part. In your service records that just tells a story about a proper service being done the way they used to be done a few decades ago.

With the extended neck it is surely a 5-8 cam. Laid side by side, checking the line up marks you will be able to verify against your old one if its intake or exhaust. When in question on profiles I mount them in my lathe with a degree wheel and plot the ramps. As an open ended rule... NOS parts of this age are fairly accurate regarding part numbering being correct. That was a different age and time when there was a bit more pride.

He is a good man and has helped me out many times.

I had considered P6 cams but... that's too easy. Technology has come a long ways since that profile was designed and I decided it was time to come up with a new profile. The fuel has changed and now computers can design a lobe profile and overlaps vastly more efficient than that 1960's design. It is killing me not to hotrod Kris's 308 engine. If I did, nothing productive would be learned that could be directly applied to an everyday 308 2v engine. That said, few are willing to upgrade these engines, even in the way of cams so.... I may cave into my want to build the ultimate emissions compliant hotrod engine so long as there is no practical market for upgrades. I'm rather hoping I loose the argument with myself as it would pain me to build a stock engine for one of our own cars.

 

looks like cosmoline, used alot on guns. any good gun blaster should work, as would kerosene. i dislike using gasoline to clean stuff, as the vapor point / fire hazard bugs me.

marvel mystery oil will also soften / remove stuff like that, but it takes some time.

dont drop the cam, as it gets REALLY SLIPPERY.

my machine gun barrels come coated in cosmoline.

 

A = Aspirazione = Intake

 

see that tiny little hole in the lobe in your last picture? make sure those holes are clean. The summitracing.com generic degree wheel fits the 348 and 550 crank snout and the 308qv and probably the 2 valve. You can get a generic dial gage for 10 bucks harbor freight and tool that works fine. Read up on the 2 most popular timing methods and use the wsm factory specs and time the motor. Let us know how far off the assembly marks are especially with the new cam. save the old cam shaft it can be repaired at web cam in riverside.

http://www.webcamshafts.com/

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1057/

http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-tools/precision-hand-tools/multipositional-magnetic-base-with-fine-adjustment-5645.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-travel-machinists-dial-indicator-623.html